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The Dairyman DECEMBER 2009 17
NEWS
anything we get off the divi-
dends we put straight back in.''
He said in the current situa-
tion where banks have tightened
up on lending, the equity part-
ner effectively becomes the
banker.
"The ultimate goal is proba-
bly for Netherbrook to become
an equity shareholder in the
company that owns the land.''
Shaun said the deal was more
difficult to put together than ini-
tially envisaged because the
recession intervened and both
partners lost equity. "There had
to be a bit of compromise from
both sides.
"The main thing is we tried to
look outside the square and see
how, with limited equity, we
could get into a shareholding
that generated a cashflow.''
howardkeene@clear.net.nz
MID-Canterbury sharemilker Shaun Back
wishes he had another 100 cows because it
was a cool, wet spring and it's proving hard to
keep up with the grass.
Not surprisingly he is a follower of the
Lincoln University dairy farm system of grass
management, having been a manager of the
Lincoln farm for two years.
That system involves the concept of the feed
wedge and rotationally grazing grass down to
residuals of 1500 to 1600 tonnes of DM/ha, as
well as soil monitoring.
"We are generally doing the Lincoln system
because I believe pasture quality is vital. If you
get pasture and cow quality right then the pro-
duction will follow, not the other way round.''
The Spectrum Group farm, which they moved
onto on June 1, is 388ha with an 80-bale rotary
dairy shed, and is set up for 1350 cows. It is all
spray-irrigated from two centre-pivots.
The farm was previously, in part, a dairy farm,
but has been converted to modern dairy systems
over the last 18 months.
Shaun sees the key thing about the farm is the
good quality soils. "We could see it had a lot of
potential.''
In the first year they are budgeting on produc-
ing 540,000 to 550,000 kg/MS. When they get
cow numbers up to 1400 that should rise to
560,000 to 580,000kg/MS.
"At the moment the main barrier to increased
production is the quality of the herd,'' he said.
"We are trying to identify the good cows and
breed from them, and gradually phasing out the
poorer cows. Once we do that we've got the
potential to be in the top five per cent (of dairy
farms).''
They have five full-time staff members and
one part-time.
Shaun and Joanne form a very strong partner-
ship. "Her strength is in administration and the
staff side of it. She has a management and com-
munications degree,'' he said. "Mine's more in
pasture and stock management.''
They have three sons, Josh 13, Jonathan 11,
and Samuel, 8. "An integral part of this is that
they can have a farming life and they can go
farming if they want.''